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Paul Nash at Tate Britain

Occasionally you go to a show that gets you to see the world differently: Paul Nash’s show at the Tate is one such. Landscapes, from his perspective, have distinct auras, – as though they contain spirits and evoke a supernatural world. His first paintings were dreamlike night scenes. And through out his life he was able to bring out the spirit of a place (or of inanimate “found” objects) in his work.

His pictures are once real- and of real places- but also mystical as though tapping into a ancient spirit invested in the place

This is why his ww1 landscapes are so powerful. They picture not just devastated landscapes but a brutalised and damaged spirits, as though the earth itself was wounded.

I think too his was a universal insight- we all have places that are imbued with special meaning